Born in a century when women were viewed as nothing more than chattel, Elizabeth Eastbridge rose through the ranks of the Royal Navy to become one of the most feared pirate-killers of her time. Enter Christiaan Alden, second son of the most powerful duke alive, and Elizabeth's 1st officer. After years of fighting side by side, Christiaan had denied himself the one woman he thought he could never have. He had convinced himself that because she was the daughter of a sailor, or so he thought, that he could never marry the woman he so craved.